To all the varied (and unpaid) jobs of the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has lately added cheerleader-in-chief. On Thursday, she employed her pep-rally skills to exhort students at Washington, D.C.-area high schools that they, too, can achieve their highest dreams.

More than 30 years after Title IX was passed, Keith Hernandez demonstrated that society cannot legislate against all forms of chauvinism. While he made his comments from his analyst's perch, his true feelings come from a much deeper place what has been described as the last bastion of male machismo: the testosterone-laden locker room.

Ninety-four years ago next week, 146 workers died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Of the dead, 123 were young women, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants who worked long hours for little pay in dangerous conditions. The Triangle fire galvanized a city and an industry. It may have motivated the eventual passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 and the establishment of occupational safety and health standards.